A large number of the population are handicapped and, in particular, are confined to wheelchairs and the like. For those people, good cardiovascular and muscular exercise is limited. Exerice helps to counteract the effects of long term immobilization or neuromuscular dysfunction resulting from diseases or injuries, such as arthritis, chronic back pain, stroke, neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and diabetes. A number of attempts have been made to deal with this problem. The U.S. Patent issued to Amos Yount et al, No. 3,759,512 on Sept. 18, 1973 for an Exercise Machine and the Patent issued to Gilbert Peters, No. 4,402,502 on Sept. 6, 1983 for an Exerciser for Disabled Persons are examples of these attempts. The Yount machine is designed to provide arm and leg exercise to those who are able to sit in the device's chair, however the only exercise provided is rotary exercise. This does not provide exercise for those in wheelchairs unless they are assisted by someone else to be placed in the device's seat. The Peter's exerciser is designed for individuals in wheelchairs, but is limited only to arm leg movements, and does not provide any relatively automatic movement for the torso of the individual.
Clearly, it is desirable for an exercise apparatus for the handicapped to be simple and easy to use and to provide exercise for the arms, legs and torso of individuals confined to a wheelchair. It is the object of this invention, then, to set forth an exercise apparatus for the handicapped which avoids the disadvantages, limitations above-recited, which obtain from prior exercise systems. It is another object of this invention to teach apparatus that can easily be operated by the individual in the wheelchair by themselves.